Brutal Game Victimizes Feminist Media Critic Anita Sarkeesian

Social media can have a very dark side where bullies taunt, threaten and endanger another. One example of this appeared recently with the Beat Up Anita Sarkeesian game. Sarkeesian is an American blogger who has raised money to research the representation of women in video games and popular culture. She now has almost 7,000 backers and has surpassed her goal of $6,000 to over $158,000. However, in response to the success of her project, Sarkeesian has been the victim of a horrible misogynist backlash.

Threats of violence, sexual assault, and death against the young woman have appeared on social media sites, her Kickstart page, and her own website. One of the most vile attacks has been in the form of the game, Beat Up Anita Sarkeesian. The game allowed players to hit an image of Sarkeesian, which resulted in black eyes and other injuries.

The maker of the game, which has been removed from newgrounds.com, alleged that Sarkeesian is scamming those who have backed her. The authors commented the following: “Anita Sarkeesian has not only scammed thousands of people out of over $160,000, but also uses the excuse that she is a woman to get away with whatever she damn well pleases. Any form of constructive criticism, even from fellow women, is either ignored or labelled to be sexist against her.